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 08 August 2007
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Flexible Working and Work-Life Balance

The Flexible working law enables parents with a child under 6 or a disabled child under 18 to make a request for flexible working, and places a duty on employers to consider such request seriously and only reject them for good business reasons.

From 6 April 2007 the law will extend the right to request flexible working to carers of adults. The guidance has been updated to take account of this change.

 

If you are an employer you may also wish to visit the Business Link website, which provides practical advice for business.

If you are an employee please refer to the Directgov website which has information on all employment rights including work and families.

If you require further help Acas produce a number of useful guidance publications for both employers and employees.  Acas also operate a helpline to answer employment questions: 08457 47 47 47 (open from 08.00 – 18.00 Monday to Friday).

Links to these and other useful sources of information and guidance can be found on the right hand side of this page.

Employment advisors and practitioners will find our detailed guidance on the right to request helpful.

Flexible Working - The right to request and the duty to consider

Important note:

On 1 October, we will be making some minor technical changes to the flexible working regulations. These concern the definition of employees who are eligible to make a request for flexible working in order to care for a child. Briefly, we are amending the definition of adopter to include those who are adopting a child, whether domestically or from another country, where the child has not been placed by a UK adoption agency. We are also adding to the list of eligible employees private foster carers and employees who hold residence orders in respect of a child. We will amend the guidance (link below) on 1 October.

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